Chateau Ausone 2003

Review of the Estate

Chateau Ausoneis aBordeaux winefromSaint-Émilionappellation, one of only four wines, to be rankedPremier Grand Cru Classé (A)in theClassification of Saint-Émilion wine. Chateau Ausoneis located on the Right Bank of France’s Bordeaux wine region in the Gironde department, close to the town of Saint-Émilion.

Chateau Ausone also produce a second wine named Chapelle d'Ausone.

Placed on the western edge of 11th century village Saint-Émilion, with elevated vineyards facing south on steep terraces in ideal situation, Chateau Ausone takes its name from Decimius Magnus Ausonius (310–395 AD), a statesman and poet from Bordeaux who owned about 100 acres (0.40 km2) of vineyard. It is believed by some that Chateau Ausone is on the foundations of his villa.

The modern estate can be dated to the 18th century, when it was owned by Jean Cantenat. Later, under the ownership of the Lafargue family,Chateau Ausone was inherited by Edouard Dubois who steered the chateau through the difficulties of the late 19th century, and in 1916 added the adjacent Chateau Belair to their estate. The chateaux were run separately, although both age their wine in the Ausone cellars, caves in the limestone cliffs beneath the town of Saint-Émilion. After Dubois died in 1921, his widow Heylette Dubois-Challon and Dubois' children of a previous marriage who married into the Vauthier family took control over Chateau Ausone.

Despite being one of the great names of Bordeaux, Chateau Ausone fell into decline until Pascal Delbeck was appointed winemaker in 1976.

For several years Chateau Ausone was jointly owned by the Dubois-Challon and Vauthier families. Alain Vauthier became managing director of Chateau Ausone, while Heylette Dubois-Challon won the right to live on the chateau until her death in 2003.

Michel Rolland was appointed consultant oenologist in 1995.

Vineyard

Surface area: 17.3 acres

Grape Varieties: 50% Merlot, 50% Cabernet Franc

Average age of vines: 50 - 55 years

Density of plantation: 6,000 - 7,8000 vines per hectare

Average yields: 35 hectoliters per hectare

Average cases produced: 1,800 per year

Plateau of maturity: 5 - 100 years

Robert Parker Ausone 2003 Review

Score: 100 Points

The 2003 Ausone is off the charts in terms of richness. While I gave a 3-digit score to the 2000, I think this profoundly concentrated wine may be even more sublime and exotic. Its inky/blue/purple color is followed by an extraordinary perfume of flowers, crushed rocks, sweet raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and God knows what else. The impression is one of extraordinary richness and purity, and a multilayered texture yet a surreal lightness as well as laser-like precision. This exquisite offering must be tasted to be believed. Incredibly young, it will undoubtedly close down over the next few years, re-emerging after 15-20 years. It should last for 70-100 years. It is a wine for anthology! No one in Bordeaux has made greater progress in taming the extraordinary potential of this noble terroir than Alain Vauthier, an obsessed perfectionist if there ever was one. He has instituted a Draconian selection at this tiny estate, both in the vineyard and the cellar, and the second wine, Chapelle d’Ausone, has also become one of the region’s finest wines. Prospective purchasers should be aware that Ausone requires 10-20 years of cellaring before it approaches maturity.